The eldest daughter of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was questioned at a US airport today after fleeing tax charges in Chile.
"She did arrive this morning at about 7 a.m. at and she's currently being interviewed,"
A US Customs and Border Protection agency spokeswoman confirmed that Lucia Pinochet Hiriart was held after her arrival at Dulles International Airport, near Washington.
Chilean government officials said she flew from Argentina and is considered a fugitive from justice.
She has been charged with tax fraud related to some $1 million in undeclared taxes and falsification of documents. She was was served with a subpoena over the weekend to attend court on Monday, but faield to appear.
Media reports in Chile said she fled to neighboring Argentina by car on Sunday, a day before her mother and four siblings were arrested on charges of tax evasion and fraud related to her father's multimillion-dollar bank accounts.
Her father Augusto Pinochet (90) ruled Chile for 17 years after he took power in a 1973 military coup that toppled Salvador Allende. He has been accused of responsibility in the deaths of as many as 3,000 Chileans during his regime between 1973 and 1990, and in tens of thousands of torture cases.
Last year, he was charged with evading taxes on at least $27 million hidden in foreign accounts. Observers say he may end up facing prosecution for tax crimes before any of the human rights charges against him, which are stalled in the courts because of his health.
Yesterday, a Santiago court of appeals approved bail for Pinochet's wife Lucia Hiriart, his youngest son Marco Antonio, and his daughters Jacqueline and Veronica.
The former dicator's eldest son Augusto was released on Monday, hours after being arrested on charges of falsification of documents related to a fraud and tax evasion investigation involving more than 100 secret foreign bank accounts.